Naia consortium to revise offer

A consortium backed by seven local conglomerates has a clearer path to advancing its offer for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) but it will need to reduce its proposed concession period and likely remove ambitious components such as a new runway in nearby Manila Bay.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said on Saturday that he remained open to the Naia Consortium’s offer to upgrade and operate the Philippines’s main air gateway but noted that its initial offer for a 35-year concession period was unacceptable.

The Department of Transportation, over the previous week, signaled that Naia would have maximized its utility as the country’s primary air gateway in about 10 years because of growing congestion and limited expansion options at the current site.

Negotiations have since centered on a 15-year Naia concession, according to Tugade. He said these negotiations were allowed under the law governing unsolicited offers such as the one Naia Consortium submitted.

The initial goal for the consortium is to obtain original proponent status, which gives its holder a big advantage in a Swiss Challenge bidding process.

“What is important is they revise the proposal. It can’t be 35 years,” Tugade told reporters at the sidelines of a conference organized by the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

He said Naia Consortium was asked to “resubmit” its proposal to account for the DOTr’s requirement for a shorter concession. He assured Naia Consortium that it would not lose its place as the first to be reviewed by the DOTr.

This is due to a second Naia offer submitted by Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure, which currently operate the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Under the rules, the government can only evaluate unsolicited offers in the order that they are submitted.

The Naia Consortium members are Ayala Corp., Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Alliance Global Group Inc., Asia Emerging Dragon, Filinvest Development Corp, JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

“I think the consortium wants to see a 15-year concession period,” Metro Pacific chair Manuel V. Pangilinan said last week. “I think eventually we will come up with something that is a win-win for the government and the consortium.”